Outrage as parking wardens can now send tickets in the post if they don't have time to write them

Last updated at 10:29 14 February 2008

The number of "unfair" parking fines issued to drivers will soar under new rules allowing wardens to ticket on sight, it was claimed today.

From 31 March, motorists will no longer be able to dodge a penalty by driving off before a parking attendant has a chance to ticket their vehicle.

If the warden claims he had already started writing the ticket, drivers will be sent the penalty notice in the post.

The new rule is included in the Traffic Management Act 2004, superseding the Road Traffic Act 1991, which stated attendants needed supporting evidence, including photographs and a note of the tax disc number, to prove they witnessed a contravention.

Motoring groups said it would create a "free for all" with wardens "hiding behind bushes" to maximise the number of tickets they issued.

Paul Watters of the AA said: "The only legitimate ticket is one served in 'real time' - when the motorist is there and can see what he is supposed to have done wrong.

"If someone drives off before a ticket is printed because the attendant didn't get there in time it is fair-dos."

Paul Pearson of penaltychargenotice.co.uk, which fights "unfair" tickets, claimed unscrupulous attendants would be encouraged to cheat.

He said: "If a warden sees you pause on a yellow line for just a few seconds while you check a map, he will consider you fair game for a ticket. All he needs is your registration number.

"What defence will the driver have? By the time you get the ticket in the post, how can you possibly remember the circumstances?"

Barrie Segal of appealnow.com said: "The opportunities for fraud under the new system will be breathtaking. This change will lead to a huge rise in the number of people appealing against unjust tickets."

But London Councils transport director Nick Lester said: "If a ticket is challenged a council will still have to find convincing evidence the vehicle was there at the time.

"If it came down to one person's word against another's it would be surprising if a driver did not win a lot of the time. The new rules will change things but we do not yet know how substantially."

•Bungling traffic wardens slapped a £30 parking ticket on a car parked on double yellow lines - ten years after the restrictions were lifted.

Furious Peter and Nicola Loftus, from Guide, in Lancs, said the warden had been overzealous in issuing the fine, and initially refused to scrap it. But now red-faced council officials were forced to quash the ticket and issue a grovelling apology.

The couple contacted their authority about the existence of the yellow lines when they moved into their house last year. But officials informed them that the restrictions had been lifted when the road they lived in was converted into a a cul-de-sac.

Share or comment on this article:

Outrage as parking wardens can now send tickets in the post if they don't have time to write them